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Dr. Hal "Otacon" Emmerich is the eccentric chief engineer of Metal Gear REX. Otacon became a close friend of Solid Snake after he rescued him from Shadow Moses Island where he was developing REX in 2005. Once learning of REX's nuclear strike capabilities, he joined forces with Solid Snake. Later, he became a founding member of the anti-Metal Gear (and secretly anti-Patriot) NGO Philanthropy, along with Nastasha Romanenko. A devoted fan of anime, Hal's chosen nickname is derived from the Japanese animation and culture convention Otakon, which he regularly attended. Personality Otacon was a gifted scientist, possessing a high intellect in computer programming and mechanical engineering. A big fan of Japanese animation shows, especially that of the sci-fi and mecha genres, his hobby also gave him an optimistic inspiration and drive to help create new beneficial technologies and innovations for society with his genius, which was also reinforced with a sense of responsibility and level-headed perspective, especially during his experience of the Shadow Moses Incident. He was also a self-confessed hacker, which proved invaluable during Philanthropy's intelligence gathering activities. At some point prior to the Big Shell Incident, Otacon had illegally manipulated his and Emma's account on the internet, which his sister later discovered and told him off for during an argument. Because of Sniper Wolf's death, he also has a hard time coping with women he knew personally being killed, including Emma Emmerich (his stepsister) and Naomi Hunter. Otacon and Snake appear to have their own handshake, as shown by the duo after Otacons' stepsister, Emma, died of her wounds. Otacon claimed to have a fear of heights, informing Solid Snake of this in 2005 after watching him rappel down a communications tower. However, he later became a proficient helicopter pilot, having flown helicopters in 2009 (in the Harrier fight and in rescuing hostages) and 2014 (Naomi's escape from South America, Snake's insertion into/recovery from Shadow Moses, and during the attack on Outer Haven). He previously underwent VR training on the Kamov KA-62 civilian model, explaining his ability to pilot the KA-60. While highly intelligent, his wisdom and thoughtfulness leave something to be desired; Otacon's poor attempts to interpret literature and Chinese proverbs for Solid Snake in 2007 prompted Mei Ling to interrupt one of their Codec conversations. Both Hal and his sister Emma had difficulty controlling their fear, having wet themselves when confronted by possible danger. Snake poked fun at this during a Codec conversion inside a locker during the Tanker Incident, in which Otacon mentioned "I was the one inside the locker that time. We're equal now, huh?" to which Snake responded "Not unless I wet my pants," to which Otacon replies "That's a low blow." Otacon had the habit of adjusting his glasses on occasion by pushing them up his nose. Even after he stopped wearing them for a brief period in 2014, he still touched the top of his nose during Codec conversations with Snake. Otacon told Snake in a Codec conversation that he believed aliens had been visiting Earth for thousands of years. History Hal's father was a big fan of science fiction movies, and named his son after the character HAL 9000 featured in 2001: A Space Odyssey.4 His father eventually divorced Hal's mother and remarried a British woman named Julie Danziger. Danziger had a child of her own named Emma, and Emma adopted her new stepfather's surname of Emmerich. Hal and Emma became very close, and Emma developed an infatuation. When Hal was a teenager, he was seduced by his stepmother, and they had a brief affair. In 1997, after Hal's father learned of this, he decided to commit suicide by drowning himself in the family pool, dragging Emma in with him. Emma expected her brother to save her, but he didn't know it was happening as he was with his stepmother at the time. Surviving the incident, Emma always claimed to hate her brother. Afterwards, Hal, experiencing tremendous guilt for "betraying" Emma and nearly getting her killed, as well as his role in his father's suicide, ran away from home and didn't see any of his family members until several years later, although he did maintain contact with Julie Danziger via letters, where he ended up learning about Emma's intense aquaphobia as a result of the "accident." He dropped out of school but through Internet-based self study, he secured acceptance to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he earned his PhD at a young age. He also earned additional Bachelor's and Master's Degrees from Princeton University. Scouted by the FBI as a student, he joined their ERF (Engineering Research Facility). After being caught monitoring and hacking their central database, he was forced out of the FBI. Eventually, Otacon was hired by the defense contractor ArmsTech. At ArmsTech, Emmerich developed a series of new technologies, including stealth camouflage, that were officially adopted by the US Army. Following this, he became the lead engineer for the Metal Gear REX project. He jumped at the chance to make an actual mech-type robot, which appear frequently in the anime he enjoyed. He was led to believe that it was a mobile defense system, but in reality it was a nuclear doomsday weapon.